CROSSING THE RUBICON – A REPORT

1. © Shared Services Forum 2019-20 www.sharedservicesforum.in
Crossing the Rubicon
SSF’s Evening of Powerful Conversations and Leadership Interactions
at New Delhi on August 5, 2019
Shared Services Forum (SSF), India, along
with RvaluE (a team of BPM Pioneers and
practitioners) as Knowledge Partner, ACCA
(The Association of Chartered Certified
Accountants), and Quintes Global (a
transformation centric business services
company) as Event Partners, organized an
Exclusive Leadership Interaction Evening,
on August 5, 2019 at New Delhi to
acknowledge the hard work, celebrate the
success, and honour the achievement of
Mr Harry Robertson, the leader who led the
setting-up of the first-ever global
transformation centre for American
Express in India – New Delhi.
Participation of senior practitioners, executives, eminent industry leaders and veterans from GICs, India SSCs, and
large corporates across India, made this evening a grand success with leaders such as Mr Harry Robertson, Mr Sunil
Sayal (Region CFO India – Nokia Solutions & Networks), Mr Rakesh Sinha (Co-Founder & Member – Governing
Council, SSF, and Executive Director & COO, RvaluE Group) and Mr Sanjay Gupta (Chief Architect & Member –
Governing Council, SSF), sharing their insights and perspectives during the evening.
In the Inaugural Address, Mr Sunil Sayal spoke about the two objectives of
this leadership interaction being listening to a pioneering transformation
leader talk about personal challenges in his journey, and for us to gain insights
on how powerful minds work; as also provide a ringside view on some of the
trends recorded by SSF during their recent research on the business services
industry – the details of which are provided in the Research Report 2018. He
also shared about the journey of SSF so far and the milestones achieved, the
vision and the mission of the forum and the importance of the forum in future.
The evening continued with the felicitation of Mr Harry Robertson. Mr
Ravi S Ramakrishnan (Founder & CEO, RvaluE Group and Founder &
Member – Governing Council, SSF), briefly shared the context of the award
in honour of Harry.
Mr V V Ranganathan, (Co-Founder & Chairman, Compassites Ventures Inc.
and Jury Chair – SSF Excellence Awards & Recognition) read out the citation
for the felicitation of Mr Harry Robertson.
Mr Ravi S Ramakrishnan, Mr V V Ranganathan, along with
Mr Ram Ramasundar (Partner, Alexander Hughes and Jury Member – SSF
Excellence Awards & Recognition), presented the PIONEERING
TRANSFORMATION LEADER IN GLOBAL SHARED SERVICES award to
Mr Harry Robertson for Leading the first-ever Global Shared Services
Mission in India and Bringing Impactful Transformation through People,
Process & Technology, delivering everlasting Value to Business, Industry
and Society.

2. © Shared Services Forum 2019-20 www.sharedservicesforum.in
The Special Address by Harry was a rare
treat for the audience as Harry presented
the pathbreaking journey undertaken by
him 25 years ago, the proverbial crossing
of the Rubicon. For the next 45 minutes,
the audience sat mesmerized by the
pioneer’s tales and episodes of relentless
struggles against skepticism, to lead an
organization with a mandate like no other
before it, to work under the critical eyes of
world leadership, and to make personal
choices to live in an unknown location
along with his wife and two growing small
kids. While he put his neck on the line for
his passion, the FRC and the country has
done him proud. He crossed the Rubicon
and came out a well-deserved winner
since there were a set of values which he
imbibed and crusaded for, values like
integrity, teamwork, quality, customer
commitment, personal accountability,
and most importantly – a will to win. Speaking about the key factors that gave him the success in his pathbreaking
journey, he particularly mentioned realizing early in the journey of the clarity of the roles/ scope defined for People,
Process and Technology, and most of all the importance of internal controls.
The second presentation of the evening was made jointly by Mr Rakesh Sinha & Mr Sanjay Gupta on Big Trends of
the Business Services Industry – Insights from SSF’s Research Report 2018 (‘Breaking Boundaries: The Power
of Enterprise Service Management’). They presented the key trends
that came out as a result of the extensive survey undertaken by SSF in
December 2018. The survey captured the current state of Business
Services adoption by: India Shared Services organizations – their
drivers, requirements, challenges, functions, processes, practices,
technologies used, value realized, emerging trends etc.; India GICs/
GCCs – the best practices adopted by them in the context of Global
India; Business Process Services Providers – their approach to be
differentiators in this competitive space; and Companies which are yet
to launch their Business Services strategy formally – their current plans,
requirements, risks, etc. Further to the survey analysis and interactions
with industry leaders, the research panellists – Rakesh & Sanjay have
brought out and described the following Big trends which they shared
with this niche gathering of industry leaders and veterans. These include:
▪ Business services have now become more wholesome and inclusive of all activities and there is a shift from
Rule Based Activity to Content Based Processing to Context Driven Operational Excellence
▪ Scope expanding to take on more digital services and analytics - much beyond just Analysis (esp in Finance)
▪ A new trend becoming relevant is Skilled employment – As a service
▪ Growing demand for ERP as a service – expanding SaaS boundaries
▪ Moving from AI to AI - Artificial Intelligence to Augmented Intelligence
▪ Emerging Importance of Technology Ecosystem
▪ And last but not the least, the most Critical Success Factors for successful RPA deployment was also shared
for a successful end to end strategic deployment
▪ The presenters also touched upon the Foundation to value delivery is through understanding fully loaded cost
per FTE and have a charge-out mechanism beyond cost plus.
Mr Anand Maheswari, Member – Governing Council, SSF and Founder Director, Quintes Global (P) Ltd delivered
the Vote of Thanks to wrap up the evening with a special mention of supporting partners: Knowledge Partner, RvaluE;
Event Partner, ACCA; Academic Partner, NDIM; and Technology Partner, Muniwar Technologies. SSF
From L to R: Mr Rakesh Sinha, Mr V V Ranganathan, Mr Harry
Robertson, Mr Ram Ramasundar, and Mr Ravi S Ramakrishnan